A pair of astronomers say that classified US government sensors detected an interstellar meteor hitting Earth in 2014. Now they want to mount a $1.6 million expedition to find fragments of it on the sea floor
Space
12 August 2022
An artist’s impression of a meteor burning up in Earth’s atmosphere Shutterstock/ImageBank4u
Astronomers who claim to have spotted an interstellar meteor impacting Earth are trying to raise $1.6 million to mount an expedition to search for fragments that may remain on the sea floor north of Papua New Guinea. But the claim – which was endorsed by the US Department of Defense – remains controversial with other researchers, who say the odds of finding anything are minimal.
There have only been two confirmed observations of interstellar objects: Oumuamua, a cigar-shaped asteroid first spotted in …